Possibly-Former-Future Senator Palin must be pissed.

I just couldn't believe that Ted Stevens would get re-elected with seven fresh felony convictions hanging around his neck. This makes things seem sane again. Or somewhat saner, anyhow.

McCain's campaign just released a statement on behalf of Governor Palin's office that the Alaskan voters are too partisan.

I just couldn't believe that Ted Stevens would get within a couple of hundred votes of being re-elected with seven fresh felony convictions hanging around his neck. This makes things seem insane again. Or somewhat insaner, anyhow.

CNN chryon I caught a glimpse of while Blitzer was interviewing her: "Palin: My son's life in Obama's hands."

Watching the Republicans trying to stink up the Minnesota recount is certainly interesting. Two or three of their early bombs misfired, but they seem to want to keep pumping stuff out there. A lot of the stuff floating around nationally (100 mysterious votes, 32 mysterious votes) has already been refuted locally, but that doesn't stop the national operatives like Instacracker from spreading them. (Even Powerline has had to back off on one thing, because those guys have to live in the state).

A Minnesota Republican Party spokesperson has just said "It will probably end in the Senate". A peculiar statement given that Coleman is still ahead; they must have reason to expect to lose the recount.

So what this means is that they'll sue over every flaw and do everything to discredit the election, until finally Franken is installed by a Senate vote. They'll find plenty of errors in 87 counties and several thousand precincts.

And what can they gain? Just putting Franken under a cloud, and being able to talk about a stolen election. Perhaps at the cost of insulting the whole state. It could easily backfire.

I'm surprised that Stevens didn't win resoundingly. Alaskans are mostly felons or felon-friendly. We in the lower 48, with our "laws", don't understand their unique culture.

One aspect of this count and the Georgia one that troubles me is how poor and sketchy the information about the vote counting process was early on. Not that we need any more evidence that US election processes suck.

ahem

I'm annoyed that, realistically, we don't stand a chance in GA. The only hope is that the GOP base will be so demoralized that they won't turn out, but if we do win MN and AK before the runoff, it seems like it would be so easy to turn out a strong No to Filibuster-proof Majority vote, and much harder to convince all those blacks who voted early to come back out and Complete Obama's Victory (I also feel like a strong message along those lines turns out the opposition just as much as it turns out your own base - if Obama himself comes to GA to campaign for Martin, that presumably fires up the majority who voted against him in the first place).

But maybe I'll be all wrong. Regardless, I'm not sure 60 caucus-with-Dems is much better than 59 caucus-with-Dems plus a half dozen "moderate" GOP Senators to be plied on any given vote. Although I understand Martin to be a pretty solid Dem.

10. One of those 60 would still be called Lieberman.

CNN chryon I caught a glimpse of while Blitzer was interviewing her: "Palin: My son's life in Obama's hands."

So we finally get a chance to see if Obama really has what it takes. Does he understand "the Chicago Way"?

11: Exactly.

Can I just say it's very annoying that the Obama campaign is still seeking money when Franken needs $$ contributions for the recount, and perhaps Begich will as well? Contribute!

14: Sure you can. But no one better claim the PGD pseud on their application.

14: Cite? I've seen the DNC looking for cash, presumably to pay off loans taken during the campaign, but not the Obama campaign.

16: Emails to the Obama mailing list asking for donations to pay off DNC debt, I assume are what PGD is referring to.

I wish the Democrat had a cool name like Saxby Chambliss instead of the Republican.

Minnesota used to have a Congressman named Adam Bede. He was reputed to be the funniest man in the House.

For Google and Wiki purposes he is "James Adam Bede".

The Austin mayor got his name legally changed to Will Wynn.

Can't Obama convince Ayers to undertake one last attack to "take out" Lieberman? Why the fuck would you pal around with terrorists if you weren't going to call in terroristic favors?

i recalled there was one white Russian general Begich who operated together with baron von Ungern, so the name sounded familiar to me
i wonder whether they two Begiches were related

and i bet the first Begich had some Mongolo-Tatar roots coz the name sounds like etymologically non-Russian

Well he is from Alaska. Maybe he's a Chukcha!

come to think about it i don't know any Chukcha names, should look it up

Swett political family in New Hampshire

Much like the Mongolians, the Chukcha did not have family names until the Soviets told them to.

An old-fashioned reference book-style description of the Chukcha

"Since the 1950s, the most famous Chukchi writer has been Yuri Rytkheu, whose poems, novels, and short stories are written in both Chukchi and Russian. Since the growth of freedom of speech and the press in the 1980s, Rytkheu has become a visible and outspoken critic of policies harmful to Russia's Arctic and Siberian peoples."

Rytkheu died in May 2008! Where was the obituary?

24: Actually Begich's family has some interesting history. His father Nick Begich, was the House Representative from Alaska. During his campaign in October, 1972 against Don Young (yes, the same guy), Begich's plane disappeared over the Gulf of Alaska. Also on board was Hale Boggs (Cokie Roberts' father, House majority leader and former Warren Commission member). Begich (and Boggs) won the election, but Young was elected to the House for the first time in a special election held the next year.

Nick Begich grew up in Eveleth, Minnesota and his father was from Croatia. But Eveleth is where Paul Wellstone's plane crashed ... so ZOMG IT IS ALL LINKED!!!

I wish the Democrat had a cool name like Saxby Chambliss instead of the Republican.

Yeah, but this is the last of the three picks we traded for Chaka Fattah*, so maybe next time!

*definitely getting in the Awesome Congressional Names Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

Yuri Rytkheu's works are now finally being translated into English, by translator Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse and Archipelago Books. Dead or not, surely he will be the next big rediscovery in world literature. And my local library has a copy of his "A Dream in Polar Fog"!

Begich's grandfather came to the US from Croatia in 1911. His father was a Congressman and was killed in a plane crash in the 70s, along with Hale Boggs.

In 1378 there was a Tatar leader named Begich defeated by the Russians. This was the beginning of the end for the Golden Horde.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Vozha_River

"Begich" could easily be a Turkic-type name, deriving from "Beg"/"Bey" the word for ruler. Was this the case for the Tatar leader?

Begich's father's body was never found. He was running against Don "The Weasel" Young.Earlier he'd defeated Frank "Felon #3" Murkowski.

Coincidence? I think not.

we had family names which were our tribes names and it's like thousands of the names then we had to abolish them coz the family names were claimed to be feodalist rudiments
then people mostly forgot their family names and now started to adopt it again and can recover it pretty accurately looking up the places of their ancestors' families lived and migrated and there is also that, oral tradition

Farley Mowat's book "The Siberians" has lots of interesting stuff. Mowat is a pop writer and not terribly exact, but he chooses interesting topics and he's very funny. He also was banned from the US for a considerable period. "Never Cry Wolf" is his most famous book. "People of the Deer", about inland Eskimos, is his best book I've read.

The commoner Norwegians only got real family names when they came to the US, or during the same period in Norway. Before that John Anderson would be named X Johnson, and X Johnson's son would be named Y Xson, and so on. But now John Johnson's son is also a Johnson.

In 1906 John Johnson ran against Jacob Jacobson for Minnesota governor. Fact,

This was true in Holland in the 17th century too. My first three Dutch ancestors have *son type names.

The Swedish aristocray have real last names. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a Swedish baroness (or something.)

"John Anderson's son would be named X Johnson"

31, 33: Jeez JE. Do ya think so? 28.

I commented on an un-updated thread. So shoot me.

Dead Begich defeated Don Young, too.

Pretty good update on Franken race.

Gov. Pawlenty went on Hannity and failed to correct obvious inaccuracies and smears. He REALLY wants to be the Republican Presidential candidate in 2012.

I hope Franken's people figure this out: people in Minnesota are proud of our reputation for honest elections, and if Coleman and Pawlenty claim fraud too often, too soon, and too dishonestly, there should be a big backlash.

It's very peculiar that Coleman is claiming fraud when he's ahead, and still probably the favorite. He must have reason to expect to lose the recount.

Alaskan political wisdom: "Don't get outvoted by a dead Begich or his live boy."

6:Just putting Franken under a cloud, and being able to talk about a stolen election. Perhaps at the cost of insulting the whole state. It could easily backfire.

So far (1968-2008), lying pathologically has been working out for them pretty well. Why would they stop?

10: I'm annoyed that, realistically, we don't stand a chance in GA.

We'll see. I've only missed one Senate call so far, with three races out.

Regardless, I'm not sure 60 caucus-with-Dems is much better than 59 caucus-with-Dems plus a half dozen "moderate" GOP Senators to be plied on any given vote.

What matters most is how many actual Democrats you have - if you have 50, you're in good shape. Having 25 actual Democrats and 42 Blue Dogs would allow you to amend the Constitution in theory, but to what end?

I know you can strike those 8 Lieberman/FISA supporters off the count, so I'd think we'd really want to get to 58 if at all possible.

But now John Johnson's son is also a Johnson.

How dickish.

max
['Ginourmous X.']

So, does this mean that Olympia Snowe is going to spend the next couple of years being taken to very nice dinners by the Democratic Senate leadership? Along with Susan Collins and such?

Can't Obama convince Ayers to undertake one last attack to "take out" Lieberman?

The most Ayers could do is try to convince Lieberman to build a bomb and accidentally blow himself up doing it.

44 is hopelessly optimistic. Fingers crossed.

28, 31, 33:

The plane crash is mentioned by John McPhee in Coming Into The Country.

43: Sticks as well as carrots, right? Collins and Snowe remain popular in Maine, I think, but they also must know that New England house delegations are now a Rep. free zone, and that too many votes with their own party could sink them.

47: Going to be a tough case to make, particularly to Collins, who just won 62-38 in a Democratic year against a solid opponent.

43: Susan Collins votes the same as the rest of her party, but Mainers don't realize it and think that she's a moderate.

Olympia Snowe is actually a moderate, but I think that she's pretty tied to her identity as a Republican. If Allen couldn't take down Collins, nobody can take down Snowe who is a much stronger candidate. Snowe has a lot of Seniority and is very effective at getting naval contracts for Bath Iron Works.

49 was I.

John Emerson,

I really hope you are correct about a backlash if Coleman pushes too hard. I also hope for an open recount, meaning I want to see gifs of the disputed ballots.

But, dear friend, I think Yon Yohnson was from Wisconsin, not Minnesota. Or maybe that was a limerick I learned in the frat. I forget.

BG, I just looked at the DW-Nominate rankings for the 108th-110th Senates, in each of which Collins is exactly one position more towards the conservative side than Snowe.

52: that's because they're both so liberal for Republicans. FWIW I think Snowe has a better reputation among Democrats as someone you can work with than Collins does.

PGD, who'd you like to see at Treasury?

The commoner Norwegians only got real family names when they came to the US, or during the same period in Norway. Before that John Anderson would be named X Johnson, and X Johnson's son would be named Y Xson, and so on.

This is still the case in Iceland.

My family name was reputedly acquired by my great-grandfather from a packing box on the boat coming over. I'm not even sure it's the right flavor of Scandinavian. The only non-family person I've met with the same name was from a different country.

NPH's last name is Ikea?

A friend's family got on the boat as Plyczynski. When they got to Ellis Island they wanted something more American, so they went with the name of the only family they knew in America: Rosenberg.

57: Eh, I'm a little too old for that. Or at least my great-grandfather was. Also, too many vowels. "Ikea" is practically Hawaiian.

"Never Cry Wolf" is his most famous book.

No, Farley Mowatt's most famous book is Owls in the Family. Or at least it should be. Man, I loved that book.

I'd probably vote for a schmoe with a D after his name who had committed some felony bribery sooner than i'd vote for the typical legal-corruption gelled haircut with an R after his name

i'm not sure "don't give dems a fillibuster proof majority' is really a winning slogon. i mean, the only people who sya they like 'divided government' are the GOP bloggers who are a standard deviation more clever than most and who have a little bit more black-helicopter view of washington. maybe filliibuster is a big slogan still in dixie, but i think if you didn't want to let obama do anything, you're already a republican. I think there might be just as much feeling of 'well he won, give him a chance to see what happens'

And i think the real move with snow, collins, gregg, and spector is playing on distance between their self-perception of moderate new england republicanism and the foaming at the mouth house GOP crazies

One of my maternal ancestors was named the German word for a certain Central European nationality, supposedly because he misunderstood when the immigration officials asked for his name.